South Terminal jobs vary between just above and just below hiring quotas

Thursday

Jun 12, 2014 at 12:01 AMJun 12, 2014 at 5:56 AM

NEW BEDFORD — The diversity goals for workers at the South Terminal job site are either just barely or just short of being met, depending on the month checked, project officials said.

SIMÓN RIOS

NEW BEDFORD — The diversity goals for workers at the South Terminal job site are either just barely or just short of being met, depending on the month checked, project officials said.

"Since the beginning of this project, the (Massachusetts Clean Energy Center) and the Patrick administration have made hiring goals a priority," said Bill White of the MassCEC, the man charged with overseeing the $100 million New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal project.

Goals regarding the number of minority, female and local workers are included in a labor contract for the state-funded project. The goals apply to blue collar jobs, rather than design or management jobs.

Although not a requirement, 15.3 percent of the site's construction workers are expected to be minorities, while 6.9 percent are to be women. In May, six out of 37 workers at South Terminal were classified as minorities, or 16.2 percent. There were no female workers, however.

"The 6.9 percent female goal for the labor workforce is an important one that we've been working to address," said MassCEC spokesman Matt Kakley in an email. "In fact, the project just hired a female operating engineer through (operators union) Local 4. She's a veteran from the SouthCoast. This brings the project to 3 percent women, and we're working hard to try to reach the goal."

Roughly a third of New Bedford's population is non-white, according to 2012 Census figures.

The types of workers at South Terminal fluctuate each month. In March, 10 percent of workers were minorities, rising to 17 percent the following month. The number of women has remained at or near zero since December.

Cashman Weeks NB became the general contractor at South Terminal after submitting a base bid of $56.9 million in February 2013. Work began last April and is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

In addition to worker goals, 10.4 percent of the total contract value is expected to go to minority and female-owned businesses.

"We need to know who the contractors were," said Buddy Andrade, executive director of Old Bedford Village and an advocate for minority interests at South Terminal. "Who are the other business people that got contracts or work on this project?"

Although it is prohibited from establishing local hiring quotas, the MassCEC in its monthly public meetings, also reports on the local residents working at South Terminal. Of the 84 total jobs at the site (blue and white collar together), 33 positions are filled by SouthCoast residents; of those, about half live in New Bedford.

Andrade said he wants more detailed information on the local workers.

"How can we identify the 16 (New Bedford residents), and where do they come from?" he said. "Are they living in a hotel? Are they really residents? "¦ Are they from high-income areas?"

Andrade challenged the fact that city residents are counted also as SouthCoast residents.

Because South Terminal is not funded with city money, city officials have little influence over hiring practices at the site, according to City Compliance Officer Eric Cohen. Cohen said that with city-funded projects he has the authority to scrutinize wages and the ethnicities of employees by looking at payrolls.

Although hiring goals have no teeth, Cohen said they matter.

"Even though it's not required "¦ it's a goal, and it's taken as seriously as a requirement," Cohen said.

"Will you (always) reach them? Not all the time. But there better be some efforts being made."

Cohen said any city project over $100,000 comes with hiring goals of 50 percent local workers, 18 percent minorities, and 6.9 percent female. Hiring female workers can be especially difficult in the building sector, he said.

New Bedford Wind Energy Center Director Matthew Morrissey underlined the importance of local hiring to the Mitchell administration.

"I think quotas are a very strong and positive force in our effort to ensure that the investment that comes into this city comes to local residents, because we are such a diverse community," Morrissey said.

"We want to continually work very closely with any investor, public or private"¦ to ensure that the highest possible level of local jobs, union or non-union, are part of anything that's happening in New Bedford."

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